The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Physical keys are typically used to unlock or open doors or locks on various items. There are different types of physical keys. A traditional turn style key is typically formed of a metallic material and includes teeth. The key is inserted into a lock and turned to unlock the lock. An example of another physical key is an access card. The access card may be magnetic or programmable and have a unique electronic signature. The electronic signature is read when the card is slid through an electronic reader of a locking device attached to a lock. The electronic reader reads the unique electronic signature and unlocks the lock via the locking device. An advantage of a magnetic or programmable access card is that the electronic reader can be reprogrammed to accept a different unique electronic signature when the access card is lost or stolen.
The physical keys are often carried on a keychain, in a wallet or carry bag, copied to create additional physical keys, and/or physically shared. The physical keys may be easily lost because the keys are often small in size.
When a turn style key is lost, an owner of a lock associated with the key has basically two options. The owner may have the lock replaced or rekeyed or may leave the lock unchanged in hopes that an unauthorized user does not obtain and/or use the lost key to unlock the lock and gain access to a restricted area. Although the key is lost, the key may be used to unlock the lock when found unless the lock is changed or rekeyed. Also, other copies of the key may be used to unlock the lock. Thus, the lost key may not be cancelled (i.e. remains valid) when lost. When a previously used lock is replaced with a new lock and/or rekeyed, the keys that were used to unlock the previously used lock are now invalid (i.e. the previously used keys cannot be used to unlock the new lock or rekeyed lock). For this reason, the previously used lock and/or keys may be disposed.
Once a physical key is provided from an owner to a receiving party, the physical key remains valid and is able to unlock a lock until the lock is changed or rekeyed, or reprogrammed in the case of an access card-based locking device. If the owner wants to prevent the receiving party from unlocking the lock, the owner typically needs to request that the key be returned to the receiving party, change the lock, rekey the lock, and/or reprogram the locking device. An additional access card must be purchased and programmed when the locking device is reprogrammed.
Physical keys can be difficult to carry and to share. Also, once a key is physically shared with another party, the owner has limited ability to prevent copying of the key. For this reason, an owner may not be aware of all of the parties that have a copy of the key.